Ribboned
by WizardsGirl
Summary: Soulmate AU. Junior Deputy Benjamin Bishop swore a long time ago that he would never Break the Tie of his Ribbon. That he would love and cherish and protect his SOulmate, no matter who they were or what they did. The fact that said Soulmate turns out to be a Cult Leader isn't about to stop over ten years of preparation. And it isn't like Joseph seems to mind at all.


**A/N:** Here's another one! I've discovered that I have a ridiculous amount of both motivation and ability when it comes to writing if I don't focus on making long-ass fics and instead focus on whatever muse I have at the time and don't have to worry about spreading an idea thin to add extra detail.

**Ribboned**

Benjamin Bishop had always loved his Ribbon, ever since he was little and had first noticed it. It was yellow, a shade called Goldenrod. It made him think of sunflowers and daisies and bananas. And he knew that, out there somewhere, there was someone _just for him_, someone with a Ribbon _just like his_. A girl or a boy out there who was his Soulmate, his other half!

His Mama had a Ribbon, too, a deep, dark burgundy. His Papa had had a turquoise Ribbon before he'd died. His Mama told him that, even though they weren't Soulmates, they had loved one another deeply, just as they loved him. She told him that, even though he had a Soulmate who would no doubt love him, because he was easy to love, that it may be a very, very, _very_ long time to meet them. And that, if he fell in love with someone before then, if he started a family with them, that it didn't mean he loved his Soulmate _less_. It just meant that he had more love to give.

Still, he'd promised to himself that he would wait until he was old as dirt before he ever married someone who wasn't Tied to him in sunshine-colored Ribbon. He didn't tell his Mama that, of course. She would get sad, and he never wanted her to be sad! He loved his Mama. She was all he had, her and his Ribbon...

Then, everything changed.

When Ben was eleven, he and his Mama had moved to a new town. Ben hadn't really liked it, it was smaller than where they'd lived before, smaller and stricter and very weird. None of the kids he rode to school with now played video games or online games, most of them told him when he asked that they weren't allowed to because they were 'sinful'. The people around their new home were all really weird, too. They were vocal and stiff and sternly against things that Ben had been raised to accept. Things like girls being just as good at things as boys and that they shouldn't be treated differently. That if a girl likes a girl that's okay, just like if a boy likes a boy that's okay.

The church-people were all weird but they were nice enough. Pushy and snooty and rude sometimes, but nice most of the time.

Then, they were invited to a barbeque, a 'Welcome to the Town' sort of gathering. And there, surrounded by these strangers with their judgmental stares and cold sickly-sweet smiles. And it was there that his Mama met her Soulmate. The woman with the matching burgundy Ribbon was pretty with blonde hair and blue eyes and dimples and the smile that she wore was warm and friendly.

Until her hand touched his Mama's when they shook in greeting. Until their Ribbon's glowed brightly, the hanging ends snapping together, Tying them. And Ben, his breath caught in his throat, because Mama's face _lit up_, the joy and wonder and hope glowing beneath her skin as she slowly began to beam-

Until her Soulmate lashed out, snapping their Tie and making their Ribbons go dull and dark and fall from their wrists.

"You, you _harlot_!" The woman gasped, pretty face twisted into an ugly expression of disgust. "I will not fall in League with the Devil!" She spat at Mama's feet, fear and fury in her eyes as she spun away and left, the entire party glaring at Ben and his Mama like they had murdered puppies in front of them. Ben moved, glaring back furiously as he reached up and grabbed his Mama's arm carefully, her face blank and wide as they stared at the Broken Tie at her feet.

"If God gives us Ribbons," he called back viciously, "and you Deny them just 'cause _you_ don't like who He picks for you, then you put _yourself _above Him! And I hope _none of you_ _**ever**_ find your Ribbons!" His piece said, Ben spat on the ground, sneering, before wrapping his arm around his Mama in a hug and coaxing her away.

That night, listening to his Mama sobbing herself to sleep, Ben wrapped his hand around his Ribboned wrist and held it close to his heart. And there and then, at eleven-years-old, Ben vowed that, no matter who his Soulmate was, no matter what they did, even if they were a bad guy, he would _never_ Break their Tie.

They moved around after that, until they finally settled down in Atlanta, Georgia. There, Ben grew and learned everything he could. He signed up for every Outdoors Class he could get his Mama to agree to, learned everything from rock-climbing to archery to whitewater rafting. He learned how to zip-line, how to sky-dive, how to hunt and skin and cook pretty much everything he could. Anything and everything that _might_ be helpful. And, when he wasn't at school or helping his Mama out at home, he was studying. Because, in the time between his Mama's Tie being Broken and his eighteenth birthday, Ben had discovered what he wanted to be when he graduated High School.

And, the day he moved out of his Mama's home and into the Police Academy, he lifted his chin high and stroked his fingers over his Ribbon for strength.

Five years later, he'd settled in as a Junior Deputy in a place called Missoula, Montana. It's beautiful there, the plains and sky and people filled with life. He spoke to his Mama every so often, warm and loving as he told her about his days and she told him, shyly, about the waitress at her favorite coffee shop who had asked her out and how their first date went. Ben was so happy for her, so encouraging. He only ever wanted her to be happy, after all. She deserved it.

He'd been working under Sheriff Whitehorse for three months before Marshal Burke showed up with a hard-on and a warrant for the arrest of Joseph Seed. And Ben, even though he'd been the 'Rook' (and Staci thought he was _so_ clever with his chess jokes), had been expected to come along. He understood it, really, he did. His list of awards, accomplishments, and trophies from his outdoor activities far out-listed his accomplishments since graduating the Academy. On top of that, he was six feet tall and two-hundred and forty pounds of broad-shouldered muscles and had what his co-workers liked to call a Resting Murder Face.

In summary, he looked like someone you wouldn't want to meet even in a crowded area in the middle of the day.

(There was one time when he was visiting New York City, where a police officer actually thought he was some mobster's enforcer and he nearly got arrested. It was one of the last times he ever agreed to take a vacation anywhere but the countryside or to his Mama's house. Too many people took one look at his face, his muscles, his large hands with their scars and callouses, and were afraid. It made him incredibly self-conscious, sometimes, but, well, he'd done everything so far so he could protect and impress his Soulmate, and he really enjoyed it all as well, so he wasn't about to _stop_.)

But, anyways, Ben was used to being used as a deterrent. And, as they stood in the Church, surrounded by hostile cultists and with Joseph Seed calling them locusts and Ben himself _Hell_, he stood tall and steady as Burke antagonized everyone in the room with a few sentences. He stood still, unmovable, as Joseph calmed his people and sent them from the room, all but his brothers and adopted sister, who stood behind him on the slightly raised stage.

"Rook!" Burke barked as Joseph offered his wrists, his Ribbon, a deep yellow one, on one wrist and a rosary with the Projects specific cross on the other. "Cuff this son of a bitch!" Ben stepped forward, unhooking his cuffs from his belt as he did so.

"God will not let you take me," Joseph told him solemnly, seriously, fingers and muscles relaxed. Ben didn't reply, face set and stern. Whether this man was a con-artist, an actual Prophet, or just a run-of-the-mill psycho, none of it mattered. Ben had a job to do.

Reaching out, Ben gently wrapped his large hand around the Preacher's wrist, his other hand lifting the cuffs-

Those same cuffs nearly dropped from his suddenly nerveless fingers as his Ribbon and Joseph's began to glow. In a flash of movement, a shine of gold, their Ribbons Tied, twining around their hands and locking them together with deceptively fragile, gleaming Ribbon. Tying them as Soulmates.

"Oh," Joseph breathed, eye huge and stunned and face going slack, his eyes locked on the faintly glowing Tie. Ben felt his heart racing, a lump rising in his chest as he dragged his eyes from the Tie to stare at Joseph's face, memorizing everything about the older man as he did. The Ray-Bans, he noted in mildly-hysteric wonder, were the _exact_ same shade of yellow as their Ribbons.

"What the fuck?" Burke shouted, jerking Ben's attention away from staring at Joseph's face, at _his __**Soulmate's**__ face_. "Are you fucking _kidding me_ right now?" Ben looked over at him, knowing his eyes were wide, his mouth soft with his surprise. "Fucking _arrest him_, Rookie!" Ben stared at the Marshal, blinking slowly, before his expression hardened. Lifting the cuffs, Ben kept steady eye contact with Burke as he pointedly dropped them. They hit the ground between his and Joseph's feet with a chiming clang.

"Fuck you," he stated simply, mildly, before turning back to his _Soulmate_, eyes roving over Josephs face, taking in the intense stare of the other as he did the same. Slowly, Joseph raised his rosary-wrapped hand, and gently cupped Ben's face with it, thumb slowly stroking over his cheekbone. Ben leaned against it silently, eyes going half-lidded, before he leaned forward with a sigh, Joseph meeting him halfway. Their foreheads pressed against one another firmly, intimately, and Ben's eyes closed at the feeling. His own free hand lifted to rest gently directly below Joseph's ribcage, curling their around his waist, his hands large enough that his thumb just barely brushed the 't' on his Lust scar, and swept up to brush against the bottom of his 'Eden' tattoo.

"I think you have your answer, Marshal," Joseph intoned quietly, making Ben open his eyes to find himself locked within that intense, near-starving gaze, the other's hand still pressed possessively against the side of his face. Briefly, there was the sound of a scuffle, the Marshal shouting and snarling and the Sheriff trying to calm him down, before the sound of a slamming door, of multiple feet and shouts and flesh hitting flesh filled the room, but Ben didn't look at what was no doubt the Faithful mobbing the Marshal and the Sheriff, didn't turn away from his Soulmate as he held the other man's gaze.

Instead, he offered a smile, the sort of awkward, genuine thing that only his Mama ever really got to see, because it always sat strangely in his face, looking half-finished and almost malicious. Joseph smiled back, slow and warm and fierce. His skin was fever-hot against Ben's own, and idly he pondered the usefulness of such a body temperature. He always felt a little chilly, especially at night, now that he thought about it.

"Hi," he breathed softly, easily, stroking his thumb along the lean, steel-strong muscle under his hand, his Tied hand squeezing the one in its hold as he did so. "My name's Ben. Benjamin Bishop."

"Hello, my Ben," Joseph murmured back. "I am Joseph."

"I've been waiting for you," Ben told him quietly, honestly. "And I've been working very hard for you." Joseph closed his eyes for a moment, taking a slow, deep breath.

"I was married once," he told Ben quietly. "I had a wife, and we were going to have a child together. A daughter." Ben heard the past tense and his heart _ached_ for his Soulmate, his hand sliding up his side to curl gently over the other man's face, cradling his head in his palm.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he told his Soulmate tenderly, softly. "But I'm happy that you were able to fall in love, even if they're gone now." Joseph sighed, long and slow, his shoulders lifting as he straightened up. "My parents weren't Soulmates," he informed the Preacher simply. "My dad died when I was little. He was a soldier, and a good man. My Mama is still alive, back in Georgia. Her Soulmate Broke their Tie the moment it happened and tried to tell her she was some minion of Satan just because they were both women. I'd like you to meet her, if we have time before the, ah, I think you said it was called the Collapse?" Ben's forehead furrowed as Joseph blinked at him and pulled back to stare at him intensely, the hand cupping his face turning into more of a hold than a cradle, fingers suddenly stern and strong and holding with just enough pressure so that Ben was forced to _focus_.

"You Believe?" He asked carefully, intensely, and Ben blinked at him.

"I don't know," he replied honestly as he absently noted the other Seeds looming every closer, forming a protective wall between the two of them and the mob behind them. "I don't have all the information. But _you_ Believe it, and it's important to you, so I'll support you the best way I can." Holding Joseph's gaze, Ben offered him another smile, feeling the strain in his cheeks from the lack of use the expression got. He lifted their Tied wrists, the glow finally abating as the Tying began to settle, the Ribbons beginning to meld with their skin, where they would turn into the Marks that signified their Bond.

"We're in this together, after all," he told Joseph softly, affectionately, as he pulled their Tied hands close to press a tender kiss to the other's knuckles, smiling against the fever-hot skin and satin-soft Ribbon there. "Just like we're supposed to be." Joseph's breath shuddered faintly as he sighed out, closing his eyes and using his hold on Ben's head to pull him forward to once again press their heads together.

"Yes," he breathed, hot and moist against Ben's mouth. "Together. Just as God Planned," he murmured, and then his mouth was against Ben's, and the now-former Deputy closed his eyes, pressing back just as firmly, just as warmly. When Joseph pulled away, his hand slid down to the back of Ben's neck, where it suddenly squeezed possessively, skin hot and firm, fingers strong and unyielding as they gripped there, clamping down painlessly but leaving no doubt that, unless the Preacher wanted it, Ben had no way of pulling out of the hold. Not that he'd want to, he knew, as heat immediately coiled low in his stomach, his breath hitching, eyelids fluttering as his shoulders lost all tension, his body instinctively melting trustingly into his Soulmate's hold. Joseph's mouth curled, a surprisingly wicked smile that had Ben's cheeks flushing lightly.

"Come, dear one," Joseph murmured lowly, humming deep in his throat as he pressed another kiss to Ben's mouth. "Let me introduce you to our Family," he crooned. "And, later, we will send for your mother. She will join us in Eden." Ben's breath shuddered out of him as his Soulmate used their Tied hands to slowly pull him away, and, without hesitation, Ben followed.

He'd always been helpless to withstand the hold of his Ribbon, with its color of sunshine and bananas and good things, and he wasn't about to be able to stop now. Instead, he kept his attention on those Ribbon-colored Ray-Bans, and easily ignored the snarled shouts and pleading and cursing of his co-workers before gunshots and the sickly-sweet smell of flowers silenced them all.

He'd sworn at six that he would always love his Soulmate. He'd vowed at eleven to never Break his Tie no-matter who or what his Soulmate was. And now, he promised, at twenty-three, to do what it took to stay at Joseph's side, no matter what.

They had to walk into Eden together, after all.

It's what they were meant to do, to be.

Two golden Ribbons bound together by Fate.

Just like God had Planned.

**A/N:** There you go! A happier(?) Soulmate AU after **The Color of Grief is Gray**!

(OMFG why am I always so nice to my male deputies?! I'm gonna have to switch it up and Hurt one, one of these days…)

Anyways, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
